From the early going, it looked as though the Burnaby Winter Club’s bantam AAA prep Bruins had their work cut out for them at the fifth annual Pat Quinn Classic.
In the tourney’s opening game against the Greater Vancouver Canadians, the Burnaby squad trailed 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 before rallying to salvage a 4-4 tie in Saturday’s bantam AAA Elite division opener.
Flip ahead to Tuesday, when the Bruins closed out a double-dip and four-day march by blasting the Cariboo Cougars 11-3 to capture the Quinn banner, where smiles were the emoji of the day.
Although Cariboo battled to be within a goal by the game’s midpoint, Burnaby breezed ahead with some timely scoring over the final 21 minutes to make it a comfortable, one-sided win.
Defenceman Tait Humphries’ second goal of the second period kick-started the run, just 44 seconds after the Cougars had got it to 4-3 midway through the second period. Burnaby native Aleksey Chkichkin cashed in a powerplay opportunity with 47 seconds left in the period to make it 6-3, and the Bruins would add five unanswered goals in the third to reclaim the Quinn Classic championship crown after a one-year lull.
It was a similar story in all their games except the first. In the semifinal, Burnaby blanked the San Jose junior Sharks 5-0, with Burnaby natives David Adaszynski, Tyler Chan, Dryden Kuramoto (with two) and Tyler Tse accounting for the offence – all in the first 40 minutes. Netminder Charlie Tritt turned aside 40 shots, as the Bruins were outshot, according to the scoresheet, 40-20 by the Sharks.
It was the team’s second shutout of the tourney, as they responded to the 4-4 draw with Greater Vancouver with an 8-0 thumping of Leheigh Cement of Edmonton, where Dylan Emmerson and Alex Sandhu notched two-goal, one-assist games. Tritt kicked out 14 shots in that win.
They also disposed of Fort Saskatchewan 7-2, with Chan and Sandhu each netting a pair, while Kuramoto accounted for a goal and three helpers.
In their other round-robin game, it was another 8-0 statement, this time over the Junior Coyotes. Ben van der Tas turned aside all 14 shots he faced, while the offence was led by Kuramoto, with two goals, and Chan, with a goal and three helpers.
Chan would finished tied with San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini for the scoring title, notching five goals and eight assists over six games. Kuramoto, with a tourney-high seven goals, stood one-point back with 12 points, while Adaszynski rounded out the top-four scorers with six goals and four assists over six games.
The Sharks would knock off the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 5-2 to claim the bronze medal.
In the peewee AAA elite division, the Burnaby Winter Club emerged victorious in the showdown final, beating Calgary’s Glenlake Hawks 4-2.
Savan Virk opened the scoring in the first period, tallying back-to-back goals to give Burnaby a 2-0 lead. Glenlake responded, however, with two of their own to tie it. The Bruins surged ahead on Zachary Pantelakis’ third goal of the tourney midway through the frame. Jakob Oreskovic completed the offence, while Liam Russell made 10 saves in the tourney-ending win.
They had advanced to the final with a 4-0 shutout over Semiahmoo, with Russell turning aside 12 shots. Virk registered a hat trick, including the first of the contest, with Joshua Lee adding a single.
In the final game of the round robin, Virk counted four goals and an assist, while Oreskovic netted a pair and two helpers, in a 7-1 decision over Richmond. Matthew Parmer turned aside 14 shots.
Burnaby went undefeated in its run through the peewee elite division, including back-to-back 7-0 victories over Nanaimo and Arizona. Ben Kindel racked up four goals over the two games.
A Burnaby native, Virk was the top scorer throughout the tournament, putting up 11 goals and eight assists over six games. Oreskovic notched six goals and seven assists, while Pantelakis finished with three goals and five helpers over six games.
In the bantam AAA division, West Vancouver topped the Northwest Hawks 7-2, thanks to a two-goal effort from Justin Ivanusec.
The Winter Club's A2 Bruins posted a pair of wins over its five games, beating Langley 5-2, thanks to two goals by Ashton Beriana, and another Langley squad 4-2. Kainoah Brankovic supplied the game winning goal late in the third period., while Beriana notched another pair.
Beriana finished the five-game stint with seven goals and one assist, while Ilija Majkic counted a goal and four assists.
The Burnaby minor Bulldogs were unable to get a win in their run, losing a couple of close ones along the way.
IN the tourney opener, the Bulldogs overcame a two-goal deficit to get even at 3-3 midway through the game, before falling 4-3 to Victoria. Burnaby's goals were off the sticks of Colby Longeau, Ryan Zhang and Isaac Zhao.
They fell 3-0 to Dallas and 10-1 to North Island, before wrapping up the run with a 6-4 setback to Arizona. Anthony Dalla Pace, Baden Pazdzierski, Jake Pizzolon and Longeau supplied the offence.
The Burnaby Winter Club's bantam AAA entry had a little better luck, advancing to the playoff round with a 1-2-1 record in the round robin. In the consolation side, they blasted Arizona 7-1, thanks to two goals each from Noah Macdonald and Marco Oliviero.
The Bruins also bested the Arizona Bobcats, thanks to a two-goal performance from Junseo Sun. In a 3-3 tie with the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs, Burnaby got tallies from Nishaan Parmar, Gabriel Guilbault and Oliviero.
Burnaby's entries in the Female side of the tournament got into some good games.
On the peewee girls event, the Burnaby Wildcats posted a 1-4 record, racking up a 5-1 victory over Seattle in the second game. Evelyn Naidu tallied twice in the win.
They also dropped a pair of 4-3 decisions to Prince George and Ridge Meadows, getting goals from Tanisha Gill, Hayden Kok, Kirsten Lai, Kristin Mesic, Alexia Robinson and Naidu.
In their last test, Lai and Mesic supplied the offence in a 5-2 loss to Victoria.
The Burnaby female bantam AAA Wildcats fared a bit better, wrapping up with a 2-3 record.
After a 3-0 setback to Abbotsford in the opener, Burnaby clipped Prince George 4-3, with two goals by Caitlyn Tong in the third period putting them in the win ledger. Also scoring was Kayleigh Pacholko. Losses to Victoria and Tri-City put a damper on their week, but the Wildcats finished strong, topping Seattle 5-2. Pacholko counted two goals, with Elinor Yao's tally early in the third proving to be the game winner. Lauren Lee and Tong also scored.
